B2B Social Media.

Artificial Intelligence

How smart can computers get? Most of us already have smartphones we use for a thousand small tasks that used to take a lot longer to accomplish: check out library books, find the cheapest gas station by your office, Google an authoritative-sounding statistic to use in the heat of an argument. One day we’ll just leave it to the iPhone to cut the grass, babysit the kids, and serve the perfect martini. (What will I do with my weekends then?)

Digital Insanity: Gap Between Online & Offline Marketing

You might think digital marketing is already “mainstream,” but the bulk of marketing budgets still goes toward offline activities such as trade shows, radio, TV, and direct mail. According to a research study conducted in Australia and New Zealand, around 61% of marketing budgets is still spent on offline activities.

Perhaps the most interesting finding in the study shows that a business’ likelihood of investing more in online marketing depends on the size of the company’s overall budget. The study divided respondents into three groups:

Supporting Your Sales Reps: A Marketer’s Dilemma

Sales and marketing should go together like peanut butter and jelly. Unfortunately, many organizations experience friction between these two areas, especially when it comes to meeting goals and hitting sales numbers. Sales tends to blame marketing for lack of sales support and successful advertising campaigns, while marketing becomes frustrated with sales for not using approved advertising […]

Talkin’ to Strangers: A Smart Investment

Chances are, you or someone you know will buy a new smartphone for someone they love this Christmas. As you’re dropping a few hundred dollars on an iPhone that’ll probably have a cracked screen by Easter, you should think about the  massive opportunities – and increased accountability – the rise in smartphone users has for […]

Cheat Sheet: 2014 Marketing Budget

We’re halfway through November, but you haven’t planned your marketing budget for 2014. Your boss expected a draft of recommendations yesterday (thank goodness you’re familiar with the “I forgot to attach the file” excuse), but you haven’t even started to research what your competitors are doing, much less what you should do.

Luckily, your frantic Googling landed you in the right place this time. We’ve put together a cheat sheet of ideas, trends, and predictions for 2014, each with a handy sentence or two of explanation.

Feel free to use the tips below to impress your boss with your preparation and insight. No need to quote us – this one’s a freebie.

Keeping Content Interesting: A Challenge of Distributed Marketing

With the growth and adoption of new marketing channels, it can be perceived as a greater challenge than ever to find a way to consistently produce fresh and engaging content. Every organization should want to create content that stands out from the crowd and is captivating. Here are some thoughts on how you can keep content fresh, intriguing, and engaging.

Distribion, a Leader in Distributed Marketing Software, Had an Exciting Year in 2012; Looks Forward to More Excitement in 2013

Distribion, a leading provider of marketing automation software, had numerous accomplishments in 2012. The company is also looking forward to making 2013 just as much of a quality year as 2012 was. One thing that can be perceived as quite impressive was the fact that Distribion was named by the Metroplex Technology Business Council as […]

Where’s the ROI in Social Media? (Part One)

The topic of ROI in social media is one that seems to be constantly on the minds of marketers in a variety of industries. If you type “social media ROI” into Google, there are approximately 24,300,000 results. There’s good reason for such a high number of results. According to a September 2011 post on the […]

Distributed Social Media Marketing

The CMO Council recently reported that seventy-nine percent of marketers are expected to implement some form of social media technology platform this year —from community building (30 percent), social monitoring and data mining (30 percent), and social media tracking and analytics (19 percent) to automation platforms that will help take the next leap in optimizing social […]

Distributed Marketing Organizations Need An Extreme Makeover

This year’s LIMRA Distribution Conference theme “Extreme Makeover” highlights the need for organizations to rethink their sales, marketing, education and recruiting strategies to adapt to the new ways local agents and consumers communicate, learn and buy today.  This call from LIMRA, a financial services and insurance association, should not be limited to only the industries […]

Local Marketing & Local Content Optimization Rank High In 2013

According to The CMO Council, over 61% of marketers surveyed ranked the need to better localize content and messaging a high priority in 2013.   The shift to a more local marketing messaging tactic has certainly been heavily influenced by the social media revolution as consumers and prospects look for recommendations from trusted sources within their […]

Marketers To Upgrade Email Marketing Software In 2013

A recent survey conducted by The CMO Council found that almost 50% of marketers are looking to implement new Email Marketing Software in 2013.  One reason for this is that marketers have moved beyond simplistic email marketing features and are now needing more sophisticated solutions.  Investing additional marketing dollars in email marketing is certainly justified […]